Climate Change Support for Peruvian Coffee Farmers

Joint cooperation between Fairtrade International, Lidl and Twin Trading is helping farmers respond to the challenge of climate change

Nelson, member of Agroindustrial Sonomoro Coffee Cooperative

Coffee growing at Sonomoro Coffee Cooperative

24 September 2012

Climate change poses a big risk for small farmers around the world: climate variability and extreme weather events undermine farmers’ ability to plan yields and contribute to the vulnerability of already marginalized populations. This is particularly the case for coffee, whose production is seriously affected by lower rainfalls and higher temperatures.

Fairtrade is developing a programme to enable farmers to adapt to climate change. As part of this we’re pleased to work on a joint climate adaptation project with the supermarket chain Lidl and TWIN trading company in Peru.

The project focuses on training farmers to deal with the changing climate. Representatives of the cooperative, known as "promodores" will be selected with the help of the organization TWIN, and will evaluate climate change risks. Adaptation techniques will also be identified for producers to better address climate change challenges. The "promodores" will then pass on this new knowledge to other members of the cooperative. Fairtrade will monitor the results, with the hope of then also carrying out similar projects at other cooperatives.

The project is being carried out at Agroindustrial Sonomoro Coffee Cooperative in Junin, Peru. The area is well-known for its coffee: 28 percent of the Peruvian beans come from there. These beans are also used in the Fairtrade coffee sold at Lidl supermarkets in Germany during Fairtrade week from 17 to 22 September. For each pack of this coffee sold, Lidl will donate 1 euro to the project.

Lidl started selling Fairtrade products under its own "Fairglobe" brand in 2006. Last year Lidl invested 50,000 euros in a project to increase productivity and quality of a coffee cooperative in Peru. The "Fairglobe" Fairtrade product range includes coffee, sugar, biscuits, chocolate, tea, juice, wine, rice, bananas, and cut flowers.